Blair sees hope after first talks with Middle East leaders

Tony Blair said he saw a "moment of opportunity" in the Middle East as he met Israeli and Palestinian leaders yesterday.

In his new role as an international envoy, Mr Blair met the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and his prime minister, Salam Fayyad, in Ramallah, and was due to have dinner last night with the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, in Jerusalem.

His visit as representative of the Quartet of Middle East negotiators - the EU, the US, the UN and Russia - is the first of many expected in coming months.

Mr Blair did not meet the Hamas Islamist movement, which won Palestinian elections more than a year ago. Last month, Mr Abbas sacked the Hamas-led coalition government after it seized control of security in Gaza following months of near civil war. Israel is opposed to any talks with Hamas until it renounces violence, recognises Israel and signs up to previous peace agreements.

Mr Blair said there was unlikely to be a quick breakthrough in long-stalled peace talks. "Even from the conversations I have had I think there is a sense of possibility but whether that sense of possibility can be translated into something, that is something that needs to be worked at and thought about over time," he said, after meeting the Israeli president, Shimon Peres.

Mr Peres, 83, said he believed that there was a real chance for his success. "I don't underrate the difficulties, there are many ... Basically I feel there is a serious window of opportunity to advance peace."

Israeli officials were reported as saying that Mr Blair talked with them about the regional conference proposed by the US president, George Bush, and expected to take place in September. Israel has said it would take part in the meeting, but refuses to negotiate with the Palestinians now about final status issues such as the fate of Jerusalem, borders and Palestinian refugees, relating to an ultimate peace agreement. Hamas is not expected to be invited to the conference.

In a sign of continued tension between the rival Palestinian factions, three university students in Nablus, in the West Bank, were injured yesterday when Palestinian security forces opened fire after a fight broke out between Hamas and Fatah supporters. One of the injured was hit in the head and was in a critical condition.

Many expect Mr Blair will try to extend the remit of his new job beyond the task of supporting Palestinian governance and economic development. He is thought to want to arrange the renewal of a broader peace process. Some among the Palestinians support that idea, but many Israeli officials are less keen.

"The mandate of prime minister Blair is motivated and generated by the objectives and not by the verbal mandate that he's given," said Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator and an aide to Mr Abbas.

On his visit, Mr Blair will also be hoping to find a location for an office in Jerusalem. He reportedly hopes to set up a base in one of the UN offices in Jerusalem known as Government House, which was the headquarters of the British mandate in pre-1948 Palestine.